2012.06.05 08:21:15 MARKET TALK: China's Workers In No Need Of Stimulation-HEARD

0621 GMT [Dow Jones] Despite a sharp slowdown in China's economy, a slew of data suggest that labor markets are tight. In 1Q, a survey of local employment bureaus found a record dearth of workers, while government data for the same period suggest that wages for migrant workers rose 16.6% year-over-year. Demand for workers outstrips supply as the working-age population has already peaked, and after 30 years, rural workers are less willing to make the trek from the farm to the factory. Stable employment may also help explain why recent dismal economic data have not sparked a big response from Beijing; if employment is holding up, lower growth is less cause for alarm. For years, excess supply in China's labor markets helped keep wages down; the government could kick-start the economy without a pass-through to inflation. But with excess demand for labor, more stimulus could reignite the inflation that China's policy makers spent much of 2010 and 2011 trying to tame. See HEARD ON THE STREET: China's Workers in No Need of Stimulation (thomas.orlik@dowjones.com) Contact us in Singapore. 65 64154 140; MarketTalk@dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires June 05, 2012 02:21 ET (06:21 GMT)